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I have enjoyed my many years in racing, even knowing the dangers of the sport. With the recent events that have taken place, and the tragic loss of the young lady in Fla. I can still say that I love racing, dangers and all.
I have been touched by the comments and support that I have seen in the past week, in support of more safety concerns at tracks. It does seem to me that some tracks just plain don’t care about the drivers simply because it is an added expense they must bear. Yes it can be an added cost, BUT how much is a drivers life worth? How would you, as a promoter like to have to deal with the death of driver at your track? Or even a serious injury? Can you live with that? If you can fine, but if you can’t, then please consider a trained safety team, one that is schooled in the act of removing people from race cars, not just from a car in a ditch, but a real honest to God race car. These teams are out there and they are struggling to stay afloat, because it takes money to provide the equipment and the man power to make race tracks safe each and every week.

Not all race tracks are as diligent as some are, and one that comes to mind that is really on the ball is Arkadelphia Speedway in Alabama, on a recent visit to the track I watched as the Track Pro Safety Team removed a young lady the PROPER WAY, by cutting the roof off of the car so they could use the Kendrick Extraction Device to safely get the young lady out of the car without sustaining further injuries. While the Team was getting the young lady secured and ready to remove from the car I was standing there talking with Promoter Gene Norman, who was watching but staying out of the way allowing the Track Pro Team to do it’s job, Mr. Norman looked at me and said “ you know watching these guys really makes me glad that I spent the money to bring them in here, because who knows what would of happened if they had not been here. “ an no truer words could be spoken.
Couple years ago at North Ga Speedway, Jason Jones brought in the Track Pro Safety Team to over see a big race he had, and I watched as drivers walked up to each of the Team and thanked them for being there, “just in case” one of them needed help. Its a good feeling to know that your out there risking your life to put on a show and the promoter cares enough about you to have the best of the best on hand, “just in case” .
So to all the tracks out there who really do care, and who enforce the safety rules on all classes of drivers a tip of the hat to you, keep up the great job it is tracks like that , that will keep this sport alive, but to the tracks who don’t have a trained safety crew, or who refuse to get one, shame on you for your greed, and being more concerned about drive safety that the almighty dollar.